A Day of Rain
by Words in the Atmosphere
Summary: There was something important Sho wanted to confess today, and so he invited Toya out to the park. Now all he had to do was wait. It turned out things weren't going to be as simple as that. [Takes place in a school AU where Toya and Sho are part of the student council. Dual PoVs because I couldn't decide whose POV I wanted to write in, so I did both.] Edit: Added an epilogue.
1. Sho

Toya was late.

If it was anyone else Sho would've figured he'd been stood up and left an hour ago, but this was Toya. Toya hadn't yet turned any of his invitations down and always showed up, no matter how busy he was with classes or council work. Sure, there were days when he was late before, but he had always texted Sho beforehand to let him know. Standing Sho up without a message just didn't seem like him.

Sho had sent several text messages already, all of them still without a single reply. At first he wasn't worried, but he kept checking his phone and now his battery was low, and—great, there it went. He sighed and pocketed his now-useless phone, wondering how he would be able to contact Toya now.

This was unusual. Toya had always shown up without fail. The reason or location didn't seem to matter, because Toya simply smiled and agreed every time he asked. Sometimes it made Sho wonder if Toya was pushing himself again, but he always looked like he was enjoying the time they spent together. There wasn't a reason Toya wouldn't show today, unless—Sho instinctively grasped his phone again before remembering it was dead.

This was not the first time Toya had been late, but it was the first time he'd been _this_ late.

* * *

It'd been two hours now, and rain had begun falling.

There wasn't any shelter nearby at the meeting spot he'd told Toya about, and since his phone was dead he couldn't text a new location to him. He sat on the fountain's edge and listened to the rain hitting the water, his clothes soaked and sticking to his skin. In a way he was still lucky, he thought, because the summer heat made the rain feel warm and not at all uncomfortable. The only problem was protecting his phone, useless now at communicating with the person he wanted to see.

And he wanted to see Toya badly, badly enough to sit out here in the rain and wait for hours without any way of knowing if Toya would even show at all. He'd discovered how much he liked him ages ago, so much more than just a simple friendship. Suppressing it didn't help, because pretending he only wanted to stay friends was killing him. But it was difficult to move beyond that when they were both guys and hanging out together just seemed so normal, and despite his best attempts Toya had not picked up on his hints at all.

So today was the final effort, the one chance he had at making his feelings absolutely clear. He regretted not dropping by the student council room to remind Toya, but today his nerves were fried and he couldn't muster the courage to look at him without wanting to call everything off. He'd rehearsed the words he'd wanted to confess today over and over for more than a week now, and he couldn't afford to let his efforts go to waste in a cowardly moment.

Granted, he wasn't that sure of himself to begin with, but right now whatever was left of his determination seemed to wash away with the rain, gently pattering his back almost as if it was consoling him.

 _Just a little longer_ , he thought as he wiped the water from his face, _and then I will give up._

* * *

He'd always been bad at giving up, and today was no different.

His clothes were thoroughly drenched now, and a lot of odd stares were thrown his way as people hurried by to get out of the rain. Understandable really, since he himself didn't know why he was still here. He thought about how odd he must look to everyone else, this strange boy who had been out in the rain for hours, completely soaked to the bone and yet making no move to get out. The imagery made him laugh quietly under his breath. He hadn't known just how badly he had it for Toya until now.

The sky was darkening, the only sign that he'd been waiting far too long for a single person. It was time to give up and go home. The nervous anticipation in his stomach had faded, replaced with an odd, numbing feeling. It wasn't like Toya to be this late, but he could've sent a message to Sho that he couldn't come—a message he couldn't read. This was not how things were supposed to go.

Just as he was mustering the energy to get up and drag himself home, he heard the sound of running footsteps, muffled by the rain. Not expecting anything he looked up, only to have his breath caught in his throat.

It was Toya rushing up to him in the heavy downpour, looking just as drenched as Sho. He was still wearing their school uniform like as if he just ran out of school and straight to the park by foot, his usual calm and composed demeanor replaced with a raw urgency that Sho had never seen before. The prestigious, usually unshakeable student council president was sprinting through the rain, without any regard to how soaked and muddy his clothes were getting. The moment they caught sight of each other Toya's eyes lit up with a strange, indescribable emotion—another expression Sho had yet to see till now.

"Sho!" Toya called, a mix between relief and dismay in his voice as he approached. His breaths were ragged and raw as he stopped next to the dumbfounded Sho, rainwater streaming down his guilt-stricken face as he hovered over him. "I'm so sorry. I got caught up in family matters, and I—there wasn't—there's no excuse, really. I'm sorry."

The apology almost went unheard, because Sho was too busy gawking at Toya to listen. If it was absurd of him to wait this long, it was even stranger that Toya came running out in the rain at this hour, just on the off chance Sho was still waiting here.

"Why did you come?" He blurted out, and it was not what he wanted to say at all, not remotely close to the rehearsed lines he had planned for this moment. The question seemed to catch Toya off-guard too, and he took a moment to brush the water out of his bangs before answering.

"The same reason you are still waiting here, perhaps."

His words sent Sho's heart soaring from the bottom of his stomach into his throat, and he marvelled briefly at how much a single sentence from Toya could change how he felt in an instant. It was a frightening thought to not be the only one in control of himself, and yet he didn't mind.

"Come on, let's get out of the rain." Toya offered a hand, and Sho grasped it after a moment's pause. As they ran for shelter Sho couldn't help but laugh. Toya tossed him a quizzical look over his shoulder.

"It won't make a difference even if we get out of this." Sho gestured at their wet clothes, and Toya laughed at that too.

The day did not quite began the way Sho had hoped, but for now the words he'd been meaning to confess could wait a little longer.


	2. Toya

He knew exactly what Sho called him out for that rainy day.

It wasn't hard to guess, to be quite frank. At first Toya only suspected it when Sho kept asking him out, and he turned up to find that Sho only invited him. For a while he brushed it off as Sho trying to get him to unwind, something that he didn't do often with his packed schedule. Sho seemed that nice, that meddling enough to have such a selfless goal.

He almost resented it a little, because it felt as if Sho saw something to fix in him and decided on his own to help. He was used to having important responsibilities expected from him, to excel in everything he was made to do; he wasn't used to being treated as if he needed help, as if he had something to be pitied about. He didn't need fixing.

But it was hard to be annoyed at Sho, because he reminded Toya so much of a pet dog—he was unconditionally caring, only had the best intentions at heart, loyal to a fault, and a little naïve. So he saw no reason to turn down his student council partner, and went faithfully whenever he was invited. It wasn't until he started really observing Sho on these outings that he noticed the slight changes in Sho's behaviour: how unusually tense and nervous he was, how he couldn't meet his eyes without looking away, the slight stammer, the glances he snuck when he thought Toya wouldn't notice. Yes, it wasn't hard to guess that Sho did not have such a selfless motive after all. In a way he was relieved that Sho wasn't looking to fix anything; Sho simply wanted something from him. Toya was far more used to that.

As for Sho's feelings, there wasn't a way to respond properly to it. He wasn't certain how Sho really saw him, and he didn't want to make the mistake of encouraging something that wasn't real in the first place. In his experience it was usually a desire for his status and wealth, and though Sho didn't seem like the type, the other explanation would be a mistaken case of admiration for love. The longer Sho got to know him, Toya thought, the more likely it would fade.

So he pretended he didn't notice the "dates", faked ignorance of Sho's subtle hints of wanting more from him. Somehow the way Sho tried so hard to catch his attention was strangely endearing, and Toya couldn't help but tease him. He'd even grown fond of him, an odd kind of tender affection that he couldn't quite label as love.

It wasn't until the invitation to the park that Toya realized just how serious Sho was. This time Sho met his eyes straight on, asked him clearly without any pretense or hesitation. The deep earnestness in his eyes caught Toya off-guard, because no one had ever looked at him that way before. Right then he knew immediately what the purpose of this invite was. It was no longer a "date" he could pretend to be ignorant of; this time Sho was going to be painstakingly clear, no matter what the result would be. Sho was a little naïve, but he wasn't an idiot. Surely he understood the risk of changing their relationship just by saying those words, and yet he was willing to take it.

Toya immediately regretted treating Sho's feelings as if it was a simple infatuation—admiration at best—something that Sho would eventually phase out of. The least Toya could do now was to take him seriously this time, to hear him out. It was time to be honest with Sho, and to let him know that he didn't think it would work between them. They were far too different, not just in upbringing but in the kinds of people they were.

It turned out things weren't going to be as simple as that.

When he left school at the end of the day to head to the park, he saw the Orbert limousine at the front and inwardly groaned. He should have sent a text message to Sho then, but he'd been hoping to simply let his chauffeur know he wouldn't need a ride today and hadn't expected to see his grandfather waiting in the backseat.

It was rare his grandfather ever had time to see him, and so he couldn't disobey. They didn't so much "talk" as "discussed" Toya's current education, schedule, training and private lessons; all of it fine-combed to the last details to make sure he hadn't been neglecting any of them on frivolous play with the other students. When his grandfather brought that up his phone kept buzzing with text messages, and under the sharp, disapproving stare of his grandfather, he had no choice but to turn it off.

"These people will not have a place in your future," his grandfather reminded him, his tone chiding, a reminder that Toya didn't need. It was a simple miracle he was even attending this school in the first place, with the opportunity to interact with people close to his age and far from his usual station. Allowing himself to grow close to anyone was something he shouldn't have done, and yet he found himself watching the rain and worriedly thinking of Sho.

* * *

It was several hours before his grandfather finally left, all of it agonizingly long and frustrating because Toya couldn't get away long enough to check his phone. In any case it didn't matter; there was no point in going anymore. A heavy downpour had started and there was no way anyone would be still be waiting this long. He had utterly failed Sho, on the day that was most important to him. It was a strange feeling. He had never felt this disappointed in himself before.

Too exhausted to change out of his school uniform, he collapsed onto his bed and fished out his phone. There was no point in texting about the park now and Sho had every right to be angry, but the least he could do was apologize for not turning up.

The minute his phone turned on all of Sho's text messages jumped out at him. He had expected it, but reading the slight tone shifts in Sho's messages from a casual reminder to obvious concern made his chest feel tight.

 _Are you alright? I'm still waiting for you._

He paused on that last message, noting that it had been four hours since it was sent. Still waiting. Not likely anymore, but he pictured Sho's worried face as he wrote that message and was hit with a strong desire to hear his voice.

The call didn't go through. His first thought was that Sho didn't want to talk to him, which would've been understandable, but his text message sounded far too concerned for him to be angry. It wasn't like Sho to have his phone off. A creeping thought entered Toya's mind, and his heart started to beat faster. Perhaps the reason why Sho couldn't answer was because his phone was out of battery, and he still wasn't able to charge it.

He jumped off the bed, his heart pounding in his ears. There was no way Sho would still be waiting. It would be irrational, unreasonable. He understood that, and yet he still wanted to see for himself. Ignoring all sense of reason, he ran out of his room.

The rain hit him hard the moment he stepped out, and for a brief second he thought about going back in to grab an umbrella. But holding an umbrella up in this weather would make running harder, and right now he only wanted to get to the park as soon as possible.

So he did the most irrational thing he'd ever done and sprinted through the downpour. The rain pelted him furiously, as if demanding what was wrong with him, to turn around and go back home. It didn't take long for him to be completely soaked; his clothes were heavy with water and slowed him down, and the rain in his eyes made it hard to see as he ran down the streets.

There was no way anyone would still be waiting in this weather. It would defy all sense of reason. And yet when he ran up to the fountain at the center of the park he spotted Sho still sitting there, looking just as sodden as he was.

He was no romantic and had never believed in love at first sight. But in that moment when he saw Sho sitting there despite the time and weather, when Sho heard him and looked up and their eyes connected, he finally understood what it was like to look at someone and fall inexplicably in love with them. And it felt just as it was said to be—a helpless, falling sensation that caught him unprepared and completely by surprise, that defied all logic and reason.

They were both fools, both of them out in the terrible weather with no shelter and at an ungodly hour where anyone with a shred of sense would've not bothered a long time ago. But as they ran for shelter together and he heard Sho's carefree laughter behind his back, he found that he didn't quite mind being a fool.


	3. Epilogue

From the mildly confused, very much intrigued look on Toya's face, it was as though Sho's crush had never eaten at a fast food chain before.

Sho led him into the fast food restaurant, straight to the line waiting to order their food. Toya looked as though he was about to ask if they should be seated by someone instead, but after a quick glance around the bustling floor he caught on quickly. He joined Sho without a word, his eyes curious and attentive as he watched the people ahead of them place their order.

It took a moment for Sho to explain the food to Toya, and when they finally made their purchase they had already attracted attention to how long they'd taken just to order their meals (Soft? Toya had asked Sho. How were drinks soft, exactly?). Sho knew Toya naturally drew attention to himself due to his confident poise and refined presence, and so he steered his classmate into a corner seat to hide from the curious gazes of the other customers.

He was about to sit across from Toya when he remembered how difficult it already was to hint that he had feelings for him, to hint that he wanted to be more than just friends, without encouraging the friend image further than he already had. It took a moment of hesitation, a moment of courage, and then he slid into the seat right beside Toya.

Toya glanced at him, and Sho prepared himself for the teasing. It never came. Instead, Toya looked away just as quickly.

"So," he said, examining his food. "This is new. No cutlery, I see. You'll have to walk me through this."

It was unusual for Toya not to tease Sho, and although he'd wanted to be taken seriously for ages now it still threw him off. Sho took too long to answer as he tried to gauge Toya's mood, and his classmate gave him a small, sidelong smile.

"The food? I'm not it, Sho."

Whatever nervous vibe he detected from Toya earlier had been hidden away behind his usual jokes, behind his usual teasing smile. Trying not to blush at the joke, he returned his attention to the tray.

"Like this." He held a fry between his fingers to demonstrate, but it was embarrassing to eat when Toya was observing him so closely, when Toya's attention was so focused on his face. The fry stuck in his throat as Toya picked at his own food with hesitant touches.

"Bare hands," Toya commented, after scanning the tables around them to confirm that this was indeed the proper etiquette. "Interesting. I never knew. This paper wrapping around the burger makes a lot of sense now."

Sho smiled then, because it was hard to suppress it when Toya sounded so gleefully entertained by fast food. Toya caught sight of his smile and leaned in. The feel of his arm brushing against his, the steady warmth of his skin, and the closeness of his face commanded all of Sho's attention, made his heart somersault in his chest.

"I'm a little curious," Toya said, and his voice was low and oddly intimate, so close to Sho's ear that it sent tingles down Sho's neck. "Now that it's just the two of us, and you're sitting here so close to me: Is this a date too?"

The words froze Sho in place, and his mind drew a complete and embarrassing blank. It was one thing to attempt to send signals and another to have his signals read and spoken aloud. Oh, it finally occurred to him, Toya was flirting. The knowledge sent a rush of adrenaline through his body, and though Toya's acknowledgement of his feelings was exactly what Sho had wanted all along, he found himself completely flustered and unable to form a single rational thought.

His lack of response, his obvious tongue-tied surprise, made Toya chuckle quietly under his breath. His classmate leaned back and resumed eating, and Sho felt both relieved and disappointed all at once.

"This is nice." Toya gazed around the restaurant once more, sipping at the soft drink that baffled him earlier. "I'm sure it's not the most romantic place to take someone, but I actually quite enjoy this."

Toya spoke as if he'd known what Sho's previous attempts were all along, and Sho could do nothing but gape at him. He knew. Sho had been trying for ages and Toya never gave a sign that he understood, but now he was being absolutely clear. He knew, and now he was flirting right back. It didn't take much effort to connect the dots.

"Do you...like me too?" Sho asked, and the abruptness of his question, the directness of his words, made him suddenly wish he picked a more appropriate place to eat. Toya looked over at him, and his confident, teasing facade vanished. He was serious now, quiet, almost a little shy.

"If I say yes, what would you do, Sho?"

His neck and cheeks suddenly felt hot, and his heart pounded so wildly that it was hard to focus, but he kept his eyes on Toya's.

"I would start thinking of better places to take you to eat."

Toya laughed, and his smile was so genuine and carefree that it felt as though Sho had fallen in love again with his classmate, the one that never seemed accustomed to company, the one that always seemed too mature for his age, the one that Sho would wait hours in the rain for.

"I told you, didn't I? I rather like it here. It's perfect."

And, thought Sho, smiling as he ate his half-forgotten burger, the one who thought a fast food restaurant was the perfect place for a date.


End file.
